Wilmington, NC News

Colorado shooting on minds of Wilmington movie watchers

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Although it happened across the country, the shooting at a movie theater in Colorado that killed at least a dozen people hits close to home.

Even the biggest of fans told us the shooting made them think twice Friday about going to a movie they’ve been waiting years to see.

“I didn’t know if it was a set thing, or if it was going to happen and there were multiple people involved” movie watcher Jack Dahl said. “So I asked my dad, ‘Are you sure you still want to go?'”

Dahl and his family and friends decided not to skip out on a Friday matinee despite being shocked and saddened after hearing about the shooting in colorado that turned what was supposed to be an exciting event into a real-life horror film for some.

Dep. Jason Augst is part of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency Response Team. He says they train all the time for incidents like this, but it’s easy to think there’s no way it could happen here.

“When you see it happen in a place like (Aurora, CO), you realize that it’s everywhere and can happen in any community, and we need to be ready,” Augst said.

Dahl said he was ready.

“If somebody came through, we were just going to dive right behind the chairs that were right behind us,” he said. “I had a plan already just in case something like that did go down.”

Augst said it’s important for people to have situational awareness.

“To be aware of what’s going on around them and the people that are around them,” he said. “But you know, when someone of this mindset intends to do harm to somebody, it’s very difficult to tell people exactly what to do in every situation.”

Dahl and other movie watchers told us the shooting has changed the way they look at any sort of big event.

“I’m pretty sure everybody had it in the back of their minds,” Dahl said.

Both Regal Mayfaire and Carmike Cinemas say shows will go on as usual, and they are not bringing in extra security in addition to the officers already in place for the weekend.

This entry was posted
on Friday, July 20th, 2012 at 7:07 pm and is filed under Wilmington.
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